Let's Blitz!
by qirien
Summary: Tidus' entire Blitzball team is down and out but there's no way Wakka is going to let them lose against the Luca Goers! Yuna, Rikku, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, and Auron take to the Blitzball court in this short, humorous story!
1. First Half

Let's Blitz!

_OK, I realize that in the game, you couldn't really talk underwater. But, this fanfic would be pretty lame without any dialogue, so just pretend with me, OK? ^_^ _

"A funeral?!," Tidus exclaimed in dismay, shaking his head, "I mean, of course I understand, Miyu, but . . . ah, man, this is a really bad time." The Crusader looked upset, but determined. 

"I'm sorry. I will be back next week -- but it is very important for me to be at my grandmother's sending. I am sure you will manage somehow without me." She smiled wryly, and nodded to both Tidus and Wakka before leaving, her short-heeled narrow boots echoing crisply on the tile floor. Wakka let out a low whistle. 

"That's almost half our team gone, ya? Since Linna's got appendicitis . . . guess it's time to find some alternates!" Tidus shrugged pathetically, somehow lacking his normal energy. 

"I don't think we have time to look around - the Goers wouldn't let us reschedule, so we either play tommorrow morning, or we forfeit. And . . . it's bad, but I don't feel so good either," Tidus said, shivering despite the warm atmosphere of the Auroch's locker room. 

"You're not getting sick on me now?!," Wakka exclaimed in alarm. 

"It's not like I have a choice about when I get sick! Anyway, maybe we can find some substitutes among the Al Bhed on the ship." 

Making their way down to the docks, Wakka and Tidus were almost to the airship when a tall, red-headed figure intercepted them. 

"You look a little weak-kneed, Tidus," Bickson teased with a conceited grin, "Thinking about tommorrow's game?" Tidus managed a retort, but it was half-hearted. 

"Bickson -- we're so good, we could beat you even if we only had Wakka on our team!" Wakka frowned, 

"Oi, Tidus, you didn't just insult me did you?" Bickson just laughed. 

"Sure, sure," he said, waving them off, "We'll see if you're still saying that tommorrow after the game!" Tidus scowled at Bickson's retreating back and began to stalk off towards the airship, with Wakka close behind. Wordlessly, they reached the airship, and, on the bridge, they noticed someone was missing. Turning to Cid, Tidus asked, 

"Where's Brother?" At his question Rikku giggled quietly, and Cid sighed gruffly. 

"Darn kid. Ran off a few hours ago with some girl . . . " 

"Her name's Naida, dad -- he told you that!," Rikku corrected him. 

"I know what her name is! Anyway, kid ran off and said he was getting married. Didn't even ask for my permission, or invite me to a ceremony, or anything." 

"Da-ad! They're eloping! Isn't it romantic?" Rikku clasped her hands together and swung around cheerfully. Tidus felt like throwing up, and it wasn't all from his impending sickness. 

"Well, at least she's not some Yevonite fanatic," Cid barked cynically. Tidus asked, 

"But . . . why now? Couldn't this have waited until after everything was over? And . . . did he have to take Naida, our best defender?! That's two more of our players out of the game!" 

Rikku chided him impatiently, "He said that he wanted to do it now, in case we don't make it back alive from fighting Sin. Duh!" 

"But, who's going to substitute for them in our blitzball game tommorrow?," Wakka asked, unable to think of anything else. 

"Oh, I see," Rikku said, and then tapped her finger against her cheek thoughtfully. "That is a problem, isn't it?" Tidus groaned a little and clutched at his stomach. 

"I -- think I'm going to . . . go lie down . . . " He stumbled his way off the deck, and, with Yuna's help, managed to make his way to his quarters. 

Wakka and Rikku sat in silent thought for a few moments, pondering where they could find five other blitzball players at the last minute. 

"I know!!" Rikku exclaimed suddenly, making Wakka jump. 

"What?," he asked, dreading some outlandish response, but also curious. 

"**We** could all play blitzball! Me and Yuna and Lulu and everyone!" She grinned mischievously. 

"Oh, no, Rikku, you've gotta be kidding me!" 

"No! Just listen! It'll be great!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the locker room of the Besaid Aurochs, Wakka explained the plan one last time. 

"Heavy on the defense, yah? But be on the lookout for a good offensive opportunity, cuz we need at least one. Then send that ball to me!" 

"Remind me again why we are doing this?," Lulu asked with a resigned smile. Before Wakka could answer, Rikku cut in, 

"It's for Tidus! He's put a lot of work into this team, and he needs us! Plus, how can we expect to beat Sin if we can't even beat the Luca Goers?" The warriors laughed nervously at that, and filed out toward the stadium. 

Entering the slightly warm water of the arena, Yuna breathed as comfortably as on dry land. She took up her position as middle forward nervously -- it was up to her to make sure they got the blitz-off. Gingerly, she tread the water, the resistance of her sleeves making movement more difficult. Examining the other team, she couldn't help but notice how they all seemed to move with such ease and grace, clearly at home. As she glanced at her teammates, the contrast was so patent that she had to cover her mouth to supress a giggle. 

Wakka and Rikku were swimming naturally enough on either side of her, but Lulu, as goalie, had to continually flap with her arms like some awkward bird to keep from sinking under the massive weight of her belts. Auron insisted on keeping his left arm captive in his kimono, and therefore he kept drifting to one side and had to use his free hand to correct his movements. Kimahri's fur rippled gracefully in the calm currents, but his side braids floated up like thick antenna on either side of his head. 

Apparently the Luca Goers found them amusing as well, for they whispered and snickered a little while they got into position. As the referee's whistle sounded, Yuna stopped laughing and turned her attention to the game. _For Tidus,_ she thought, readying herself to jump, facing off the continually smirking Bickson. 

The whistle blew, the ball was in, but Yuna just couldn't jump high enough, so it was Bickson who got the ball. 

"So, Wakka, looks like we'll see if Tidus was right -- the only blitz player on your team is you!" For answer, Wakka, Rikku, and Yuna all closed in on him. Rikku swirled around him, feinted, and then tried to steal the ball from behind him. Wakka tackled hard, but Bickson withstood it easily. Balling up her fist, Yuna burst forward with all her might and managed to grab the ball away while the other two distracted Bickson. 

"Aaah! Rikku, what do I do now?!," Yuna asked, swimming with all her might towards the enemy goal. 

"Pass it over here! Let me or Wakka take it in!" But Balgerda and Abus had already closed in on her. Frantically, she heaved the ball across the court, but Balgerda anticipated her move and snatched the ball out of the air. Passing it easily over Yuna's outstretched arms, the ball sailed across the arena to Graav, who was nearing the Auroch goal. He was met however, by two imposing defenders -- Kimahri and Auron. The Ronso growled and aimed a vicious kick at Graav, but the Lucan forward managed to keep a hold on the ball. 

"I strongly suggest you give that to me," Auron threatened calmly, but before he could make good on his threat, Graav tossed the ball up in the air, whirled around in a giant somersault, and kicked the ball towards the goal. Auron managed to tip the ball, but it still sped on towards the goal. It was aimed low, but it headed straight towards Lulu. With a confident smile, she let the ball catch in the belts of her dress, and then calmly picked it up and tossed it to Wakka. 

Feinting left, he then swam wide, coming almost to the border of the arena before turning in towards the goal. 

"Wakka, I'm open! Over here!," Rikku shouted, waving her arms from where she tread water, alone, near the Luca goal. Apparently they did not think she was much of a threat. Ignoring the pleas of the young Al Bhed to pass the ball, Wakka drop-kicked a shot. But, unbeknownst to him, Bickson had been coming up behind him and just now shot a hand out, sending the ball off into the arms of the Luca offense. 

"WAKKA!," Rikku screamed in frustration, "You didn't listen to me!" She swam with incredible speed to intercept Abus, and after Auron knocked the wind out of the would-be attacker, she managed to snag the ball away. She zig-zagged across the court, up and down, searching for an opening. The clock ticked down the minutes until halftime at an alarming rate, and Wakka shouted at her impatiently, 

"Rikku, if you're going to do something, do it now!" 

"Right!," she agreed, and sped in with full force. She sensed the Goers behind her, on the right and the left. She spun around, and, just as they were about to try to tackle her, she threw something into their midst. In a flash of smoke and light, they were blinded, and she was free to shoot. With a grunt and a kick, the ball sped toward the goal. The goalie looked surprised, apparently not expecting a shot from anyone but Wakka, and the ball sailed passed him. They had scored! 

After the Auroch's goal, Bickson started with the ball, and in the few seconds before halftime, he blew through the forwards and launched a shot before the defenders could reach him. Lulu readied herself to catch the ball, but then, suddenly, it spun unpredictably, and she was no longer sure which way to jump. At the last minute, she jumped to the left, and although the ball brushed her fingertips, it still went through just as the buzzer for halftime sounded. 


	2. Second Half

Let's Blitz!

"I'm sorry, Wakka," Lulu said quietly, as the makeshift Besaid Auroch team returned to the locker room for the halftime break. She was clearly not used to such failures. 

"Nah, it's fine, Lu. We just had to get warmed up! Now we're really ready to show 'em!" He tried to sound enthusiastic, but he was disappointed in himself, too. Rikku stuck her tongue out at Wakka. 

"At least one of us managed to score a goal." 

"Yah, but too bad you had to resort to your machina to get things done! Man, we're lucky the ref didn't call us on that one." 

"Hey, it worked didn't it?! I think I'll call it . . . 'Flash Shot'!" Wakka just shook his head. 

"Huh. Well, I guess as long as we win . . . " 

"That's the spirit!" Rikku clapped her hands and cheered, and the team returned to the arena, more determined than ever not to let the Goers win. 

The blitz-off started, and Yuna darted forward to catch the ball. As soon as she felt it in her fingers, she quickly made a movement with her free hand to cast Reflect. She had just barely finished when Bickson barrelled into her, making her vision go black for a moment and causing her to let go of the ball. No sooner had Bickson grabbed it, though, when he yelped and she felt a surge of energy rush into her. 

"Is that what they call a Drain Tackle?," she asked sweetly, her grin anything but innocent. Before Bickson could recover, Rikku kicked him in the gut and got the ball back. Darting around Abus, she swam frantically toward the goal. Just as she started to get close, though, someone grabbed her arms from behind, and Doram swam up to greet her. 

"Well, well, Balgerda -- look who we caught!" 

"Where're your flashy tricks now?" a raspy voice behind Rikku taunted, whom she assumed must be Balgerda. Before Rikku could reply, Doram snatched the ball away and passed it up to Abus, who was skirting the edge of the arena to avoid Auron and Kimahri. Although he was still fairly far from the goal, he shot the ball immediately rather than risk another encounter with the two stalwart defenders. 

The friction of the water slowed the ball's progress considerably, and Lulu positioned herself to catch it. At the last minute, however, the ball's spin made it veer to the other side of the goal. It was now too far for her to reach, but she flung out her moogle and the ball slammed into it, stopping just before it would have hit the back wall of the goal. Snatching up the blitz-ball and the moogle in one fluid motion, she tossed the ball to Auron, not trusting her accuracy and strength to send it further. 

In one, quick movement, Auron's left arm darted out of his kimono and grabbed the ball. Slow, powerful strokes took him closer to the other side, but then he noticed the entire team of the Goers gathering together, clearly intent on barring his path. With an amused "Hnmph," he unconcernedly tossed the ball over his shoulder to Wakka. 

Unfortunately, Wakka was looking the other way, so the ball bounced off the side of his head and sailed into the arms of the opposing team. They then swam fluidly to form a new formation, a sort of human sphere around Bickson, who had the ball. Slowly, but in unison, they swam toward the Auroch goal. 

"Oh, no you don't!," Wakka protested, and tackled Graav with a heavy blow to his head, striking him unconscious. The Goers shifted, trying to cover the hole in their formation, but then they met with Kimahri. 

The Ronso growled, calling upon his inner powers of rage to mimic one of Spira's most deadly monsters. Sickly green gasses spewed forth from his mouth at the formation, and the Goers reeled away, coughing. Most of them were poisoned; Balgerda fell asleep, and Abus was flailing around blindly. Bickson, however, was heading straight for the goal in a berserker rage, his face contorted with anger and determination. 

Rikku, Yuna, and Auron swam towards Bickson as fast as they could, but he ignored them, and with almost superhuman speed, launched a shot at the goal from point-blank range. Lulu flapped her arms in an attempt to jump, but she couldn't get up high enough, and the shot went through. 

"Oh, no, they're winning!," Rikku moaned, as the blitzers made their way back to their positions for the next blitz-off. Yuna glanced nervously at the scoreboard, reading 2-1, and readied herself to face off. The clock was counting down; there were only forty seconds until the half was over. Even if they managed to score in that time, they would still have to make another goal during overtime. 

Since the Goers had made a goal, it was the Auroch's ball. Yuna caught it, and immediately passed it off to Rikku, who sped past the forwards, and, just as she was about to reach the defenders, hurled the ball across the court to Wakka. He was then faced with a dilemma -- he was not close enough yet to shoot, but any closer and he'd be at the mercy of Doram and Balgerda. They didn't have enough time for him to try anything else. He paused for a second, mind racing at what to do. 

Suddenly a flash of green caught his eye. Positioned right above the Goer's goal, its small form hardly noticeable amid the blue water, was one of Lulu's Cactuar dolls. _I hope you know what you're doing, Lu!,_ he thought, as he kicked the ball over to the tiny creature. Doram looked confusedly at where he kicked the ball, seemingly to the middle of nowhere. The cactuar, waving its arms happily, waited until the ball was close, and then somersaulted down on top of it, changing the ball's course down towards the Luca goal. Although Raudy jumped at the last minute, the angle was awkward, and he couldn't quite intercept the ball in time. The score was now tied, again. 

Yuna barely had time to let out an encouraging cheer before she was facing off Bickson again. Now, just going into overtime, whoever made the next goal would win. _I'll do my best, Tidus!,_ she thought to herself, wondering if they could really win. But, picturing Tidus' face watching them from the sphere terminal on the airship, Yuna knew she had to do more than just try her best . . . no, she had to be victorious! With a sudden burst of adrenaline and determination, Yuna grit her teeth and grinned fiercely. They **were** going to win -- she would make sure of that! 


	3. Endgame

Let's Blitz!

Waiting for the blitzoff, Rikku whispered to Yuna, just loud enough for the other team to hear, 

"Draca kioc yna cu cmuf, ajah y cruubiv luimt uidnih dras!" Yuna smiled at Rikku's encouragement, and at the confused scowl on Bickson's face when he heard it, and replied, 

"Yht y cruubiv ryc y paddan lryhla uv sygehk y kuym!" 

When Bickson caught the blitzoff, all three forwards sped to intercept him. After Wakka tackled him, Bickson threw the ball desperately to Graav. Rikku managed to get a hand on the ball, and yelped as the Venom Pass poisoned her, but Yuna couldn't block it, so it sailed across the court. 

Upon catching the pass, Graav swam straight towards the goal, unheeding of Kimahri and Auron's moves to intercept him. Simultaneously, the two defenders reared back, and then shot forward to incapacitate Graav. But just as they were about to connect, Graav dodged and slipped down even closer to the goal. 

Letting off a drop-kick, Graav shot the ball just as Auron grabbed him from behind. The ball still sped towards Lulu, though, seemingly in a straight path, and she reached out for it. It hit her hand hard, bending her fingers backwards, and although the ball bounced off innocently to the side, Lulu's hand was withered, severely impairing her catching ability. 

Kimahri snatched up the errant ball, and swam wordlessly towards Yuna. 

"Go," he said to her simply, tossing her the ball, "Kimahri protect Yuna." She nodded, somewhat surprised, but she was not willing to let his faith in her go to waste. She swam towards the enemy goal, trying to make her movements unpredictable, but it was soon clear that Doram and Abus would intercept her long before she reached the goal. 

Yuna paused, uncertain, but before she could decide on a course of action, Kimahri rushed ahead of her and preemptively kicked Abus so hard he floated over to the other side of the arena, and then tacked Doram to make a path for Yuna. 

"Go," he urged her, and she nodded with understanding, and swam on. Just as she was approaching where she thought she could kick the ball in the goal, Balgerda and Bickson reached her, clearly ready to attack. Yuna smiled calmly. They would soon discover that she was not as helpless as she looked. 

Punching the ball with all her might, it flew towards Balgerda and whacked her in the face. When the rebounding ball came back towards Yuna, she hit it again, and it collided painfully with Bickson's face. Then, spinning around in the air, she connected with the ball at tremendous speed and sent it hurtling towards the Auroch goal. 

Raudy watched the the ball closely during this exchange, but when Yuna finally kicked the ball, it was going so fast he could only leap to one side and hope for the best. 

Just as he leapt, the ball entered the goal near the top, too far away for him to reach. The buzzer sounded. The Aurochs were victorious! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After returning to the airship, the warriors gathered in Tidus' room, where he lay sick. 

"We whupped 'em!," Rikku was the first to exclaim, grinning excitedly. 

"I don't know how, but we did it," Wakka muttered, shaking his head. Yuna ran over to Tidus and grabbed his hands. 

"Did you see it, did you see it?!," she asked. Tidus sat up slowly, and with a weak smile, replied, 

"Yeah, Cid set up the terminal in here so I could watch the game. Yuna, I had no idea you could blitz like that!!" Yuna blushed a little and looked down at the ground. 

"Sir Jecht used to show it to me all the time, and as a kid I would try and imitate him . . . I never actually succeeded until today, though!" 

"Well, your spin could use a little polishing -- you gotta pull your arms in so you go faster, and you were aligned a little wrong, so the shot went in the middle of the goal instead of to the side, and . . . " At the look of surprised disappointment on Yuna's face he stopped and laughed. "I'm just kidding! It was great! I appreciate you guys working so hard to win the match for us." But his unsmiling face didn't match his words. Yuna reassured him, 

"Don't worry, Tidus, the Aurochs still need you. Although, I wouldn't mind playing blitzball once in a while . . . " 

Rikku chimed in, "Yeah, me too! Did you see my amazing Flash Shot?!" 

Kimahri added, "Kimahri like blitzball. Would play again." 

Lulu nodded, and said calmly, "I must admit, I had more fun that I thought I would. It was exhilirating, yet at the same time almost peaceful." 

Even Auron had something to say, "Playing blitzball is infinitely more satisfying than watching it." Tidus and Wakka exchanged a worried glance, and Wakka shook his head. 

"Let's hope Brother and Naida and everyone get back soon, yah?" 

Rikku glared at Wakka playfully. "Hey, what are you saying?! I think we did really good for our first game EVER! In fact, if you're gonna be all ungrateful about our help, maybe we'll form our own team, the . . . the Spira Spiders!!" Everyone laughed at that, but Tidus wondered if she was serious. On the one hand, the Aurochs hadn't had any serious competition in quite some time. On the other hand, he didn't really relish the thought of going up against Spira's strongest warriors, who also happened to be his best friends, on the blitz field. 

_What am I thinking, there's no way that would happen._ He grinned and squeezed Yuna's hand. "Thanks again, guys." 

THE END. As you can see, I left room for a sequel, in case I or somebody else want to write one! I hope you enjoyed the fun blitzballing. :-) 


End file.
